Shane Lems is a graduate of Westminster Seminary California and has a DMin from RTS Orlando. He has been a church planter and pastor in the URCNA. Since 2013 he’s been serving as pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Hammond, WI. He is married and has four children. Shane has written numerous articles for Modern Reformation, New Horizons, and other publications. He is also the author of Doctrines of Grace: Student Edition and manages a book blog, The Reformed Reader.
Self-control is not a popular virtue. Few people really want to restrain themselves from pleasure or self-gratification. Very few people are concerned about regulating their grief, anger, or frustration. Instead, indulging in pleasure is a priority for many. People give full vent . . . Continue reading →
To get a true understanding of the fruit of gentleness, we must first think about the gentleness of Christ, which we meditated on in part one. Now we can start to think about gentleness in our own Christian lives. Jesus said we . . . Continue reading →
1. Pitting Scripture and Confession against each other. 2. Regarding the enterprise of systematic theology as inherently rationalistic. 3. A mono-covenantalism that sees one covenant, originating in the intra-Trinitarian fellowship, into which man is invited, thus flattening the concept of covenant and . . . Continue reading →
I am guessing most of us are familiar with the word gentle. If you helped your friend move into an apartment, he probably told you to be gentle with the box containing dishes. When your son was holding his newborn brother, you . . . Continue reading →
Christians are lifelong students of Christ. Disciples are pupils in the school of the great Teacher. We are constantly learning more about Christ, his salvation, and what it means to follow him in faith. Similarly, preachers are lifelong students. There is no . . . Continue reading →
According to recent Gallup polls, American churches are emptier today than they were twenty-five years ago.1 Church membership is falling in large numbers. In fact, over fifty percent of Americans rarely or never attend worship services—and if they do, it is usually . . . Continue reading →
Once we have some understanding of God’s faithfulness, we can begin to think about what it means in our lives. The fruit of faithfulness is another one of those wonderful virtues that the Holy Spirit produces in the Christian’s life. The Spirit . . . Continue reading →
I wonder how many books about preaching have been published. Two hundred? Five hundred? It is hard to know for sure, but the number is not small. And although there are numerous books about preaching, most of them are quite similar. They . . . Continue reading →
We live in a culture of non-commitment. People get new jobs and then quit them a few months later. They start classes at a university, then drop out after a few weeks. If someone has an issue with their friend, they bail . . . Continue reading →
I’m good! It’s all good. You good? He makes good money at his job. Mike Trout and Aaron Judge are good baseball players. Your friend is a good person. As we all know, the word good has different meanings depending on the . . . Continue reading →
Most Christians probably agree that it would be nice to know exactly what God wants us to do in certain situations. For example, if your dear friend has been avoiding you lately, you might wish that God would specifically tell you what . . . Continue reading →
Whenever I go on multi-day hikes with friends, we have friendly arguments about candy bars. When you are in the middle of a long hike, you dream about food. So the arguments start. Which candy bar is number one? KitKat? Twix? 100Grand? . . . Continue reading →
When Paul talks about peace as a fruit of the Spirit, we have to remember the above aspects of peace. It is found in God, and it is from God through faith in Christ. These are objective. When Paul mentions peace as a fruit, however, he is referring to peace in a subjective way. Continue reading →
In one episode of the 90’s sitcom Seinfeld, the catchphrase is “serenity now!” Frank (George’s dad) had high blood pressure and he heard on a cassette tape that if you say, “serenity now,” it would help keep your blood pressure down. So . . . Continue reading →
Many people think that the purpose of life is to be happy. If you stop, look around, and think about it, you will notice that the chief pursuit of many people’s lives is happiness or pleasure. People today want to be happy. . . . Continue reading →
In the first article of the series, we learned that the fruit of the Spirit are Christian virtues that glorify God, bless other people, and benefit us. When Christ redeemed us, he gave us his Spirit and united us to himself, giving . . . Continue reading →
Although we know better, Christians often think that life would be much better if we only had more money. If we had more money, we could have more stuff, and if we had more stuff, we would be more happy. That is . . . Continue reading →
Christians often mimic the tactics of non-Christians in the social and political realms. For example, the “cancel culture” found in legacy media and social media is also found in evangelical media and Christian social media. American politicians and pundits use scare tactics, . . . Continue reading →
James Waddel Alexander (1804–59) was a Presbyterian pastor and professor who served churches in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York, and labored for a time as a professor at the College of New Jersey. Like his father Archibald, James also served as . . . Continue reading →
The apostle John ended his first letter with a simple command for believers: keep yourselves from idols. Idols, of course, take various forms and shapes. For many American evangelicals today, common idols are political and cultural ones. So argues journalist Tim Alberta . . . Continue reading →